My contact at Balaji, Ashish Shah, one of the four young lions who bought into Balaji in 2016 to reinvigorate the venerable brand, has told me the relationship with BIC has broken, and he and other members of the Shah family are now running BIC independently. He is no longer involved in Balaji, but he has left a series of profound incenses as his legacy, including this Dharma series.
Clearly aimed at the top end of the domestic market, and at incense connoisseurs in the West, the presentation is simple but elegant, with a sliding tray, and a restrained and beautiful inner sleeve in gold and white. The scent on the sticks is delicious - it hits with a wow factor. Sweet, luscious, perfumed, woody, with florals of violets, Damask rose, and night jasmine, and threads of soft natural vanilla spinning around and keeping it all together. It is very perfumed and feminine - it is girly yet sophisticated and sexy with some dark, almost animalistic musk. While there is a wow factor on first hit, the scent doesn't fully develop, nor does it stray far from the established incense accord of florals on wood. And I find the sweetness a tad satiating after a while. But these are minor quibbles - the scent is a joy.
I am not one of those who considers deeply a creator's intention. I have a post-modern approach to artistic or artisan creations, provoked by the ideas of Roland Barthes and reader-response theories. The intention of the author matters little compared to our own reception or experience. The name, the maker, the style of the incense is of some academic interest - especially to hunters like me, but what really matters is our sensory, intellectual, and emotional response. That matters above all. I prefer my incense to be natural, I prefer my incense to be intelligent, and to do new things with traditional ideas, I prefer my incense to be open and honest, and to be made by people who care. But when it comes to lighting up the incense, all those things are secondary to the pleasure and interest the incense scent provokes. Was Paul Eagle a bit of a prick? Yes. Did he take other people's incense and put his own brand on it? Yes. But did the incense he chose smell great? Yes. What matters most is not Paul Eagle's story - that just adds colouring and flavour, what really matters is that a lot of Happy Hari incense was awesome.
I say all that because as the incense burns I am thinking of the intention behind this scent. I am thinking of the maker, and did Ashish intend to bridge the traditional and the modern. But that is just colouring. What matters is that this is a wonderful scent - it is firmly in the tradition of woods and florals such as Nag Champa, though lighter, more floral, more joyful. The woods are white and creamy, with a hint of sexuality rather than a sweaty grunt (which is more typical of Balaji). This is modern, yet with a foot firmly in the traditional. It's great. I love it. Some minor quibbles, but an awesome incense.
I am not one of those who considers deeply a creator's intention. I have a post-modern approach to artistic or artisan creations, provoked by the ideas of Roland Barthes and reader-response theories. The intention of the author matters little compared to our own reception or experience. The name, the maker, the style of the incense is of some academic interest - especially to hunters like me, but what really matters is our sensory, intellectual, and emotional response. That matters above all. I prefer my incense to be natural, I prefer my incense to be intelligent, and to do new things with traditional ideas, I prefer my incense to be open and honest, and to be made by people who care. But when it comes to lighting up the incense, all those things are secondary to the pleasure and interest the incense scent provokes. Was Paul Eagle a bit of a prick? Yes. Did he take other people's incense and put his own brand on it? Yes. But did the incense he chose smell great? Yes. What matters most is not Paul Eagle's story - that just adds colouring and flavour, what really matters is that a lot of Happy Hari incense was awesome.
I say all that because as the incense burns I am thinking of the intention behind this scent. I am thinking of the maker, and did Ashish intend to bridge the traditional and the modern. But that is just colouring. What matters is that this is a wonderful scent - it is firmly in the tradition of woods and florals such as Nag Champa, though lighter, more floral, more joyful. The woods are white and creamy, with a hint of sexuality rather than a sweaty grunt (which is more typical of Balaji). This is modern, yet with a foot firmly in the traditional. It's great. I love it. Some minor quibbles, but an awesome incense.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please leave a comment: